Sunday, October 28, 2012

Bartimaeus

Most people (at least most of the time) try to ignore
beggars as much as possible. That’s easier to do perhaps when one goes
everywhere by car, where we just pass people by, without paying them much
attention one way or the other. It’s more of an issue in a walking city,
such as where I come from. And, obviously, Jesus and his contemporaries lived
in a walking world, where one walked almost everywhere – to go almost
anywhere – where just passing by without necessarily either noticing or
ignoring was really not an option.

My guess is that most people in Jericho generally
ignored Bartimaeus as much as possible. The fact that we now know his name
(one of the very few people Jesus healed whose name we know) might mean that he later become a familiar figure in the early Church. But that was way off in
the future that fateful day that Jesus passed through Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd
[Mark 10:46-52] – an exciting glamorous occasion for the locals, not unlike a
presidential candidate’s campaign event.

Perhaps fearing he’d not otherwise be noticed,
Bartimaeus cried out, “Jesus, Son of
David, have pity on me.” He had to make a nuisance of himself – just to get
noticed at all! The crowd, of course, tried to shut him up – until Jesus did
just the sort of thing he was becoming famous for doing. No doubt to the
chagrin of his disciples, who were probably enjoying the parade and their part
in it, Jesus stopped to pay attention to some nobody – reaching out (as
Jesus so often did) across the boundaries that are supposed to keep people in
their proper places.

Had Jesus actually been a modern political
candidate, presumably he’d have had an advance man – or team of advance men –
precisely to prevent such things from happening! Notice, however, how quickly
the crowd got with the program. Unscripted events have a certain popular appeal
all their own. As soon as the people realized that Jesus was actually interested
in Bartimaeus, suddenly their scolding turned to encouragement.

Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?” was the same question he had
asked James and John in the Gospel we heard last week. But what a difference in
response! The answer they gave was what one would expect form two young,
talented, upwardly mobile disciples, just beginning their careers. Poor
Bartimaeus simply said, “I want to see.”
Unlike James and John, Bartimaeus wasn’t on some fast track to anywhere. He
was, in fact, on a very slow track to nowhere, and he knew that
perfectly well.

Beggars, it is said, can’t be choosers. So they ask
for what really matters. James and John’s request reflected their greed.
Bartimaeus’ request reflected his need. In his closest companions and
dearest disciples, Jesus found demanding ambition. In Bartimaeus, he found faith.

The story could have ended right there. But, in
spite of Jesus’ instruction, “Go on your
way,” Bartimaeus did no such thing. Instead, we are told, he followed on Jesus’ way. Having
himself found healing and salvation, he wanted to share what he had found with
others. Bartimaeus seems to have immediately understood what so eluded James
and John – what James and John and the other disciples, for all their quality
time with Jesus, still so failed to understand – namely, that God’s gifts are
given not just for ourselves, but are meant to be shared with the whole world,
this world which God loves so much that he has chosen to become a part of it.

This applies in all aspects of our lives. As the
saying goes, "when you walk through that door of opportunity you don't
slam it shut behind you." And it applies, of course, specifically in our
calling as Christian disciples. Like Bartimaeus, Saint Paul understood this. If I preach the gospel, this is no reason
for me to boast, Paul famously wrote to the Christians in Corinth, for an obligation has been imposed on me,
and woe to me if I do not preach it!

And, like Bartimaeus, all of us have been
changed – and challenged – by the transforming power of Jesus Christ in our
lives. Like him, we too now have to live that change, in our ordinary
everyday lives as believers, in the wide and complicated variety of situations
in which we find ourselves – as family members, students, workers, and
citizens.

For, in the end, as has often been said, we –
individually and as a Church community – may be the only experience of Christ
many people will ever have in life, the only face of Christ they will see, the word
of God they will hear. So, if we fail the Bartimaeus test, if we fail to become
credible and inviting witnesses, then we run the risk of concealing rather than
revealing the face of Christ; and the word of God may seem strangely silent,
precisely when and where it most needs to be heard. The love of God may appear
absent, if it isn’t being shared. I’m reminded of Saint Catherine of Siena’s
remark, back in the 14th century: “Preach the truth as if we had a
million voices, for it is silence that kills the world.”

Of course, it’s easy to settle for less. It’s
always tempting to be satisfied with who’s in and who’s out. The crowd in
Jericho was content to keep Bartimaeus quietly on the side of the road, quite
literally in the dark. But, by not playing his prescribed part, Bartimaeus
enabled them to experience truth and grace way beyond the limits of their
expectations – truth and grace to be shared with all – the only alternative to
a future spent in darkness.

In the dark, Bartimaeus represents where we are on
our own. Following Jesus, Bartimaeus exemplifies the community we can become
through the healing, forgiving, and transforming power of Christ present and
active in our world. The crowd in the Gospel got the message. Once they
realized what Jesus wanted, they stopped hindering Bartimaeus and instead
helped him to follow Jesus. The truly happy ending of this story will be when
we too do the same!

Homily for
the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Immaculate Conception Church,
Knoxville, TN, October 28, 2012.

About Me

Rev. Ronald Franco, CSP, is a member of the Missionary Society of Saint Paul the Apostle (The Paulist Fathers) and Vice-Postulator for the Canonization Cause of Paulist Founder, Isaac Hecker. He is Pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish, Knoxville, TN,